So... yeah, basically a swankier version of the original Test Drive Unlimited with not much changed, except perhaps as you say, more of a focus on the 'lifestyle' aspect of people who have the money and connections to be driving super cars in an exotic paradise. Shame you didn't touch on the absolutely painful voice acting and the overall cheesiness of it all.

While i think i could have fun with this title, it's not worth picking up at the moment, especially with the issues they're having in multiplayer. I think where a lot of people fall short with this game is that they wade into it expecting a racer, but it's not about that at all. It's Test Drive Unlimited, so naturally it's going to be all about the long easy-going drives down oceanview bypasses without worrying about who's in first and last place. It's about the experience and not the thrills. Sadly, while that's perfect for the real world, it doesn't translate very well to video games because... well, you're not actually the one experiencing it. You're emulating it and without any of the sensations that come with driving a real luxury sports car. It's not about the challenge, and without the challenge, it's just not very fun.

It's worse on the PC, much worse. Not to sound like a fanboy, but it would be cool if Escapist did a review on the PC every now and then. Just occasionally, like when Deus Ex: HR or Skyrim is released.

I think the biggest flaw in this game is the inclusion of the story. The first Unlimited didn't have a story, and didn't need one. You just went to an exotic paradise to race some of the fastest and best looking sports cars in the world. Now we have an unnecessary storyline about how you are a participant in some elaborate race that all seems very arbitrary. All the flaws in the first game I could live with, because God damnit I was living a dream. Now, I'm not, I'm Joe Blow the valet who somehow got accepted into an international competition.

And I have to agree, the social aspect of the game is extremely underdeveloped/half-assed. Where are the people in the cities? What's the point of the lavish house if there is no reason to have an interior? Why are the police oddly content to let me go Mach 9 in a 50 zone? Sorry, that's not a social issue, but still a flaw. Anyway, I don't think they should have left it like that, they should have gone all the way, including a dynamic range of NPCs you could invite to elaborate parties aboard your million-dollar yacht, or they should have left it out entirely.

At the end of the day, though, I still have fun with this game. I just ignore the story and the horridly awkward voice acting and pretend I'm still like the guy in the first game, just going to Hawaii to live out my ultimate fantasy.

DaHero:It's worse on the PC, much worse. Not to sound like a fanboy, but it would be cool if Escapist did a review on the PC every now and then. Just occasionally, like when Deus Ex: HR or Skyrim is released.

I hear ya, 90% of multi console games The Escapist reviews are the 360 version, I'm not complaining about it, but they could point out what's different for each version, if it's worth mentioning of course.

OT: Heh, that's dissapointing indeed, I was hoping for this game to be the "Gran Turismo of PC", but ended up to be quite bad.

you would be cool if you could invite your friends from your friends list and hang out and party in your apartment and then go race later on. Now that would be cool if they included that for online play.

This game is just sad ,voice acting is terrible ,handling you can get used to ,but sometimes you just wanna punch a wall when you run off the road for the 3452 time because controls are just too sensitive no matter what setting you choose ,character customization is pointless ,not like anyone is gonna see it or give a shit and of course a ton of bugs ,grass keeps floating in the air or doesn't appear at all at certain spots in the map after new patches (pc version ,and it might be only me ,didn't bother to look it up on the net ,i`m done with this game for now).

This is really frickin' sad. I was really hoping for a good racer for the PC. Oh well. Anyone have any suggestions for a good racing game for the PC that's been released in the last couple of years that they would recommend?

Gaderael:This is really frickin' sad. I was really hoping for a good racer for the PC. Oh well. Anyone have any suggestions for a good racing game for the PC that's been released in the last couple of years that they would recommend?

Gaderael:This is really frickin' sad. I was really hoping for a good racer for the PC. Oh well. Anyone have any suggestions for a good racing game for the PC that's been released in the last couple of years that they would recommend?

ToCA Race Driver 3 is amazing. DiRT 2 also, but ToCA has an amazing scope of events and is probably my favourite driving game ever.

you would be cool if you could invite your friends from your friends list and hang out and party in your apartment and then go race later on. Now that would be cool if they included that for online play.

I'm not even going to lie. I was hyped to play this game when I first heard about it. So hyped, I wanted to dress my avatar like Alberto Del Rio (look him up) so I can look fancy while driving. But when I got this game the first day, the servers were cut off and the first vehicle I purchased had BAD HANDLING. I couldn't make one turn without spinning out of control like I'm driving on ice. Thankfully when I had enough money to buy a better vehicle, I just got rid of that piece of crap car.

A couple of days later, I started running into weird bugs. Bugs like my car vanishing, the AI teleporting in one of the tailing missions, me falling through the fucking ground after spawning, and having the game randomly freeze on me once. Now I know how those who purchased Fallout New Vegas on first day purchase feels. Some of those problems may be funny, but some can really take the fun away from the game.

Right now, I'm having difficulty with the driving school for A cars because of the damn vehicles I'm stuck with have bad handling. This sheer of annoyance forces me to ride around Ibiza and Hawaii doing other things like finding roads, wrecks, and photos. And the online is still half and half. I can finally go online, BUT I can't invite or join my friends, clubs are still locked, and my DLC car is unavailable at the Used Car Lot unless I log off. That way I can actually buy it.

This game was suppose to fun, but right now I'm just hating every moment of it. I keep saying to myself when I finish this game, I'm trading it in. I'm not even going to download the Casino Pack. It's just not worth it anymore.

kasperbbs: sometimes you just wanna punch a wall when you run off the road for the 3452 time because controls are just too sensitive no matter what setting you choose

This! This happens to me alot. I drive too fast, and when I see an oncoming turn, I slow down to make my turn precise and all I end up doing is hitting a pole, tree, fence, wall, bush, or drive on the grass, trying to get back on the road, but the button to reset back on the road doesn't seem to know that I'm driving on GRASS.

You know, this game sounds like it's suffering from what made Midnight Club: LA not as much fun as Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition.Sure the cars were there and so were the races, just the path to getting to anything actually fun was way too frustrating.Still the idea of driving around a very pretty landscape does sound appealing to me, but then again I could just go play Just Cause 2 for the pretty scenery. Plus I do get that added bonus of smashing my car into a soldier if I get bored.

I liked TDU, I clocked quite a few hours into that, even with its bugs (invisible cop cars? What the....?) Honestly, I like the idea of customising my apartment. It bugged me in TDU that I couldn't choose the furniture that I wanted. Also, have the got more than 3 interior types now? But still, it sounds like they've done some of the things I wanted to in TDU, so I'd definitely be interested in getting this.

But hearing about the bugs....Maybe I will wait a bit before buying, let them get some patches out first (and possibly during a Steam sale or something).

Is there really plastic surgery in the game when the driving parts are apparently so dull? I'm not really one for driving games any more - Burnout was enough for me - but even I would expect one to at least get the driving part right. If Modern Warfare 3 decided to include a gun cleaning mini-game everyone would still expect the terrorist shootery to still be up to par.

About the "too much boring driving" part. If you find driving a supercar boring then this game is not for you. It is not about the destination, it's about the journey, really. First TDU was just the same in this respect, and that's exactly why people loved it - huge distances to drive in their dream cars.

The "way too ridiculous prizes" comment - once you're 100% done with the challenges, they stop giving you money for completing them again, so most people are scraping by by the time they finish the championships, actually (except cheaters, naturally)

I am surprised to see that you haven't mentioned any bugs or problems with the game, but concentrated on getting the game itself horribly wrong.

P.S: To invite a friend over to your house you have to add somebody to your friend list, go to your house, go to the pause menu > Players > Friend list > select friend you want to invite > click invite. I'm not sure how you didn't figure that out.

I think that you have to be a car nut and love driving to like this game... and I do :)the firs one was good exept the half ass handling, but they seem to updated it for this one so I will probably get it.

Yeah, I remember the first TDU and raised an eyebrow at the "Deliver my car to X buiding and I'll give you twenty grand" stuff. And starting the game by getting a kickass apartment in Hawaii just felt a bit much, but I suppose if the whole lifestyle thing is what they're going for then they did pretty well there. It just felt to me like the game was handing me everything at the start and I'd have nothing to earn, I like games where you start off in a dingy apartment and have to work your way up.

I'm also not a fan of how modern racing games expect me to spend twice as much time tweaking my car in the garage than actually racing it. We had a perfectly good system before; you get a car that has a certain set of stats, then you strive to unlock/buy the next car with better stats so you can go faster or handle better and the only choice you had to make about the car's setup was whether it was an auto or manual. You weren't punished for not buying this or that car upgrade the benefits of which took an auto repair course to understand, or getting the sliders just right so you could drift better, it was about getting you back into the next race as fast as possible.

But maybe I should just accept that modern racing games aren't targeted at my demographic anymore, and I should be content with the more straightforward racer games that still exist down at the arcade.

rb26dett:About the "too much boring driving" part. If you find driving a supercar boring then this game is not for you. It is not about the destination, it's about the journey, really. First TDU was just the same in this respect, and that's exactly why people loved it - huge distances to drive in their dream cars.

I think it's fine if that's all you want to do, but I really do want something other than strict simulation in games. It's why I don't understand the appeal of civilian flight sims.

Even if simulation was the main point, the developers left some obvious holes in the imagined reality of the game and created a lot of content that just doesn't support the fantasy. I wouldn't mind all the window dressing if the core experience was more compelling. Like someone else said, Call of Duty still has to get the shooting parts right, no matter what else is added. So all the home decorating, plastic surgery, and photography missions would be less obnoxious if the actual driving content was more enjoyable.

Hey wait. The review said you get to drive around the island of Hawaii. I thought the island it had was Oahu. You know Hawaii is the name of the Big Island right? No probably not. No one knows anything about Hawaii. :-(

TDU is fore and foremost, about cruising, so the point that it has too much driving around......is exactly why many loyal fans buy the game.

And I wouldn't say the reward is ridiculous, it didn't take long (about 6 hours) to get to the Ibiza cup and after that you already have access to the most expensive car in game, compare to GT5 that's ALOT better.

Although I am puzzled that you say the driving model is solid......cos that is the single biggest of the game imo.

theSovietConnection:I think the biggest flaw in this game is the inclusion of the story. The first Unlimited didn't have a story, and didn't need one. You just went to an exotic paradise to race some of the fastest and best looking sports cars in the world. Now we have an unnecessary storyline about how you are a participant in some elaborate race that all seems very arbitrary. All the flaws in the first game I could live with, because God damnit I was living a dream. Now, I'm not, I'm Joe Blow the valet who somehow got accepted into an international competition.

And I have to agree, the social aspect of the game is extremely underdeveloped/half-assed. Where are the people in the cities? What's the point of the lavish house if there is no reason to have an interior? Why are the police oddly content to let me go Mach 9 in a 50 zone? Sorry, that's not a social issue, but still a flaw. Anyway, I don't think they should have left it like that, they should have gone all the way, including a dynamic range of NPCs you could invite to elaborate parties aboard your million-dollar yacht, or they should have left it out entirely.

At the end of the day, though, I still have fun with this game. I just ignore the story and the horridly awkward voice acting and pretend I'm still like the guy in the first game, just going to Hawaii to live out my ultimate fantasy.

I agree. I loved the first one, no story was just fine with me. I still think the police were very brutal in the first one. A Saturn Sky can't get past a wall of cop cars 8 cars long, 15 cars wide on both sides. but now they don't do anything at all. "Yeah, you just killed that guy by raming him going 180 in the oposite direction. We don't really care."

The voice acting is even worse than the first- But they KNEW it was bad in the first one, so they tried to not include it that much. The first one had more cars, too.

I liked the driving in the first one. In this one, I find it absolutely ridiculous and unrealistic ( at least TDU1 had SOME amount of simulation to the driving).Also, when you're not driving , the game gets REALLY stupid. The dialogue, the characters, I felt like getting a lobotomy while looking at the cutscenes.